In the future, computers will be able to function like the human brain, becoming "intelligent machines."
The theory is one of many that will be discussed at the Dynamics of Perception Memory and Consciousness symposium held at the Institute for Intelligent Systems at The University of Memphis today and Saturday.
Scheduled to appear are keynote speakers: Paul Adams, State University at New York Stony Brook neurobiology professor; Walter J. Freeman, University of California Berkeley professor of neurobiology; and Bernard Baars, senior fellow in theoretical neurobiology from the Neuroscience Institute.
U of M professors of computer science and mathematical science, Robert Kozma and Stan Franklin respectively, organized the event and will also be in attendance.
The conference, sponsored by the IIS and the division of computer sciences, will bring together scientists and professors from opposite fields of study.
"This is where (scientists) from computer science and neurobiology come together and discuss (these issues)," Kozma said.
"The symposium is really about connecting collective theories at the cellular, populations and cognitive level," Franklin said. "The idea behind this is to find out how the mind works."
Freeman has traveled around the globe with his theory on the neural mechanisms and role of gamma activity in perception.
Freeman said his theory is the opposite of what most people think.
"One theory is these pulses are binary digits and (people) think nerve cells are binary switches that make digital pulses equivalent to zeroes and ones," Freeman said. "What Dr. Kozma and I are saying is that these pulses are not binary digits. These pulses are simply analog expressions of a quantity. The real secret here to the theory is the conversion goes from an amplitude of the sum to a pulse frequency modulation."
According to Freeman, computers are not able to function like brains.
"The real secret on how brains work is they are not digital like computers systems, they are dynamic systems," Freeman said. "They have the ability to make new patterns, which is where our ability to do creative work comes from."
"Without humans, machines are dumb," Kozma said.
Freeman said he was taught by Warren McCulloch. In 1943, McCulloch developed the theory that neurons function like binary switches, the opposite of his research.
"His idea of a nerve cell as a binary switch, even though it was wrong, was amazingly powerful," Freeman said. "That is where the idea for computers came from."
"That shows you the theory doesn't have to always be correct to be useful," Kozma said.
Freeman has conducted his tests on animals and humans.
"I have done (tests) on animals, like rats," Freeman said. "I go in and measure their brains and intellectual activities. I measure the pulses and waves and the relations between pulses and waves and I have done it on humans."
Just as McCulloch's theory helped spark the architecture of the modern computer, Freeman said his theory will likewise do the same.
"(It) is going to make a new revolution," Freeman said.
